A Foundation of Lies

Louis walked in.

The moment I saw him, my eyes lit up.

Just as I was about to hurry over to him, Flora beat me to it. She threw herself into his arms, her eyes slightly red as she whined like a spoiled child.

"Darling, Rachel is bullying me! She even hit me!"

Louis saw the red handprint on her cheek. His gaze instantly turned ice-cold, and he glared at me, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Rachel, are you crazy? Why did you hit her for no reason?"

I opened my mouth to defend myself. "She tried to fire me without any justification! And she tore up my—"

Slap!

Before I could even finish my sentence, Louis slapped me hard across the face.

"Shut up! If you didn't bully her, why would she target you? Don't make excuses!"

I clutched my cheek, in sheer disbelief.

In our ten years together, he had never once picked a fight with me or spoken a harsh word, let alone laid a hand on me.

"Louis, I am your girlfriend of ten years! I helped you build this from the ground up and worked myself to the bone for this firm for a decade. And you’re turning on me for some new woman?"

My voice couldn't stop trembling.

Ten years ago, his company was on the verge of bankruptcy. I was the one who stood by his side, fighting from the beginning to pull it back from the brink, growing it step by step into what it is today.

As a fairly well-known architect in the industry, numerous big firms had tried to poach me with massive salaries over the years, but I rejected them all. To rush projects and secure clients, I worked around the clock, traveling all over the country to visit job sites and negotiate details.

It was no exaggeration to say that without me, Walsh & Co. wouldn't exist today.

Louis, however, merely sneered, his face full of contempt.

"All you did was drink and chat with clients all day to pull in a few deals."

Saying this, he reached out and pulled Flora closer into his arms. His tone instantly became gentle.

"Unlike Flora. She relies purely on her own hard skills to carve out a place in the design world. How could someone like you possibly compare to her?"

Hearing him say that, it suddenly struck me that the name 'Flora' sounded awfully familiar.

There was an architect in our industry who had been blacklisted by multiple firms for plagiarism. If I recalled correctly, she shared that exact name.

Watching the two of them act so intimately, I clenched my fists tight, my voice trembling.

"So... while I was away, you’ve been cheating on me all along?"

"Cheating?"

Louis acted as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

He pulled a paper from his coat pocket and slapped it onto the desk in front of me with a loud smack.

It was unmistakably a marriage license.

Stamped right there on the license were their names.